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Da 'Ole Of Death Chapta 8 | |
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Chapta 8 |
The map left behind by the humans accurately showed the route from their structures to what Castus referred to as the dig site so he decided to take it with him as they prepared to leave the next morning. “So ‘ow many gits is ya plannin’ on collectin’?” Drazzok asked Hazug when he saw Castus climbing onto the back of the truck. Since Drazzok had last seen the old man, he had acquired a bag that appeared to be filled with odds and ends of electronics. “If ‘e worked with dem wot reckoned dey knew somethin’ about wot we is lookin’ for, den ‘e may know somethin’ useful.” “Or ‘e could just be a waste of space dat can’t even talk properly. Ya know, just like a mekboy.” “I know wot ‘e says.” “But ya is a git lover with bits of paper stuck to everythin’ ‘e owns.” “And I is da only one who can ‘elp ya.” As Drazzok muttered under his breath Hazug started the truck’s engine. “Right lads,” he yelled at the top of his voice, “let’s go smack some ‘eads!” and from the back of the truck and the riders of the squiggoths came a shout of “Waarrgh!” as the warband set off. In the back of the truck Castus sat himself down opposite to Sophie. For some time he just watched her. He noticed that she seemed perfectly at ease around the orks, though for some reason the smaller gretchin made her uncomfortable. What was more she appeared to accept a submissive role to the aliens. “You willingly work for these beasts?” he said softly so that Hazug would not hear him. He knew that the ork nob spoke gothic, but none of the other greenskins had shown any ability to understand the language. “You’re here with us too,” she replied. “That may be true, but I have no intention of remaining a slave once this is over. I will help the orks to destroy whatever lies beneath the sands of this desert but I will not serve them any longer than that.” “I’m not a slave,” Sophie protested, “Hazug pays me for my service and he treats me better than many orks would. Better than the old government treated the people of this planet.” “What do you know of the Imperial government? You are too young to remember it.” “My parents told me all about it. The governor took whatever he wanted from the people here, and used his enforcers and soldiers to kill anyone who wouldn’t give in to his demands. The orks don’t care about what we do just so long as we don’t get in their way.” “So your parents work for the orks too?” “They’re dead,” said Sophie solemnly, “my father was murdered by humans who wanted to bring back the old ways because he wouldn’t let them hide on his farm. My mother got sick and died soon after. I’m only here because the Death Skulls clan took me in as a servant. When they were killed Hazug saved me and gave me a home.” Castus remained silent for a while. “This explains much,” he said eventually, “I have wondered for many years why the governor’s troops killed all the others of us who survived. If your governor had been acting beyond his official powers then he could have faced investigation by the Administration to find out why he had to run his world in this manner. Had any of us returned to the Adeptus Mechanicus then word of his brutality would have spread. We weren’t an official expedition so he could wipe us out without worrying about the Mechanicus coming looking for us.” “Then the Imperium isn’t all like that?” Castus took his time in answering again. “The galaxy is a dangerous place, and for humanity to survive there have to be some sacrifices, but the Imperium exists to defend us not subjugate us. Governors who behave in the way you have described are removed from power. One way or another.” Suddenly their conversation was interrupted. “Oi Castus!” Hazug yelled, “Do ya know wot dat is den?” and he pointed to a smooth sided rock pillar that was sticking up from the sands. Castus stared at the pillar as Hazug drove towards it. Plain black in colour, it had four equal sides that taped slightly towards the top before there was a sudden change in the angle of the slope forming a point at the summit many metres above the ground. Despite being in the middle of the desert, the surface was in pristine condition without any signs of wear. “Remarkable,” Castus said in amazement, “and no, I’ve never seen anything lie it before.” “Well it aint the only either,” Hazug said as he passed the object. Looking forwards Castus saw that there were many more of the pillars arranged in a straight line. “How many are there?” he said out loud. “Ya can count em if ya want,” Hazug replied, “dey seem to be goin’ da same way we is.” Assuming the speed of the truck to be constant, Castus counted not only the number of pillars that they passed, but also the time lapse between passing them by. He determined that the pillars were evenly spaced, and when his count reach seven Sophie gave out a shout. “Look, there’s more of them over there, and there too,” she shouted in gothic. Breaking off his count Castus saw that there were indeed two more rows of the pillars in the distance, one each approaching from left and right. Then Hazug added something in his own language. “I think we is dare,” he said as the truck approached where the intersection of the rows of pillars. Where they met was a gaping hole in the desert sands. The entire party dismounted a short distance from the hole, and while the orks prepared to move closer Hazug had the gretchin see to feeding the squiggoths. There was a crunching sounding as one of the gretchin did not move away from a pile of feed quickly enough and was consumed by one of the creatures. “It’s alright master, Ratish is fine,” Ratish called out, even though Hazug hadn’t so much as looked around to see which gretchin had just been consumed. He did however notice that Castus was walking towards the hole ahead of them. “Wotcha doin’?” Hazug called out to the old man. “I need to know what is down there,” Castus shouted back. “It could be dangerous,” Hazug told him, “We’ll let a grot take a look first.” The ancient mind stirred once more. For millions of years it had slumbered, and now three times within less than a century it was disturbed. Once again it studied those who disturbed it. This group was small but close, much like the group that disturbed the mind several decades previously. But there was something more dangerous about this group; they had something with them that bore the marks of the mind’s ancient enemy, one of the abominations that had almost brought victory to the enemy before instead helping to accelerate their downfall. Regardless of the presence of this abomination, a pattern was forming that suggested to the mind that it was time to act in a more decisive manner, and it began to wake its brethren en masse. While the mind waited for the necessary actions to be carried out it took the time to study the intruders once more. “’Ere Drazzok is ya alright?” Hazug asked the weirdboy, who did not appear to be well. “I is fine,” Drazzok replied, “I just got the feelin’ dat dare is somethin’ lookin’ at us.” The gretchin was called Fobbit, and he got the assignment of having to look into the hole simply by being the first one to be pushed forwards by the other gretchin when Hazug asked for a volunteer. Cautiously he crept towards the hole, glancing over his shoulder he saw everyone else concealing themselves behind the truck, squiggoths, unloaded boxes and the closest of the alien pillars. As he drew closer to the hole he noticed that the feel of the desert sand changed beneath his feet. “Dis bit’s different,” he called out. “’Ow come?” Hazug shouted back from behind the truck. The gretchin crouched down and swept aside some sand. Beneath a shallow layer of the sand was a smooth stone surface with a similar appearance to the material of the pillars. “Dare’s more stone ‘ere,” he shouted, “Shall I come back now?” “No!” yelled Hazug. “But it don’t feel right,” Fobbit protested before he saw Hazug raise himself up and aim his rifle. A single shot rang out and Fobbit leapt backwards towards the hole as the bullet ricocheted off the stone at his feet. Hazug fired again and once more Fobbit jumped backwards. “Alright, I’m goin’,” Fobbit shouted, and the gretchin began to creep towards the edge of the hole once more. The hole was massive, easily large enough for the largest types of squiggoth to be thrown into whole. The edge was a neat circle, and Fobbit could see that the stone material ran around the entire edge. “I’m ‘ere,” Fobbit called out, “wot do I do now?” “Look in da ‘ole,” Drazzok shouted. Fobbit bent over slightly and took a brief glimpse into the hole, just long enough to see that the stone also lined the inside of the hole and that it went down beyond where it became too dark to see. “Dare’s nothin’ ‘ere,” Fobbit shouted, “just a big ‘ole.” Hazug stood up. “Right lads,” he said to the orks around him, “let’s go,” and he walked confidently towards the hole, followed immediately by Ratish and Sophie and by the others a moment after that. Standing at the edge of the hole, the warband spread out around its edge and looked into the hole. All they could see was the featureless stone lined walls descending into the pitch darkness below. Hazug produced the tau viewing device and attempted to use its night vision function, but it failed to provide any more details about what was further down in the hole. “Somebody’s got to go down dare,” he said as he put the viewer away, “someone get dat grot a torch and some rope.” A length of rope was tied around the waist of the struggling Fobbit, and a lit torch was thrust into his hand. “Keep ‘old of dis,” Gobnok said as he gave the torch to the gretchin and Feggit and Ghukil lifted him over the side of the hole. The rope creaked as Fobbit was lowered into the hole, juddering as Feggit and Ghukil let out more rope at an irregular rate. From out side the hole the others looked in as the gretchin went deeper into the darkness. Occasionally the gretchin cried out as he bounced off the side of the hole as he was lowered even deeper. Before long Fobbit disappeared from view entirely, and only the light of the burning torch gave any indication that he was there. Suddenly Fobbit gave out a shout. “It’s different ‘ere,” he yelled, “and I think I can see da floor.” “Wot does it look like?” Hazug yelled into the hole. “Its da same stone as everythin’ else. ‘cept dare’s somethin’ green in da middle of da floor.” “Keep lowerin’ ‘im lads,” Hazug said to Feggit and Ghukil before shouting into the hole once more, “Oi Fobbit, give out a yell when ya hit da floor.” “Okay, now.” Feggit nodded, indicating that the rope had gone slack. “Chuck some more torch down dare,” Hazug ordered, “and get Fobbit to light ‘em for us, and we’ll need ladders to get everyone down dare.” Just as Fobbit had described, the hole opened out into a chamber that, by the time the orks had lowered rope ladders and descended, was partly illuminated by almost a dozen flickering torches. The surfaces of the chamber were made from the same stone that everything else had been, and the only feature that stood out was a large green crystal set into the floor. It was polished flat and its edges blended seamlessly into the floor around it. “Spread out,” Hazug said as he looked around the chamber, “check out dis entire place.” The orks picked up the torches that lay on the floor and spread out and began to search around the edge of the chamber, the parts that remained in darkness. Meanwhile Castus examined the crystal closely. “I think it’s a lens,” he said, “this could focus a tremendous amount of energy.” “I aint got a clue wot ya just said,” Hazug said, “I aint no mekboy.” “I think this could be part of the weapon that destroyed your spaceship,” Castus explained, “though I don’t have any idea of how it actually works or where the energy is supplied from.” “’Ere boss,” an orks shouted from across the chamber, “dare’s somethin’ over ‘ere.” “Come on lad,” Hazug told Castus, “I think ya ought to take a look at anythin’ we find.” Hazug and Castus made their way over to where a small group of orks was peering into an alcove. There at its back was a patch in the wall that was not made of the same stone as everything else in this alien structure. Instead there was a reflective surface set into the wall. Like the green crystal at the centre of the chamber, the surface of this reflective area was perfectly aligned with the stone wall that surrounded it. “So wot is it?” Hazug asked Castus as the human moved to examine it more closely. “I’m not sure,” Castus said, “but I think that this may be a door.” “Den where’s da ‘andle?” Hazug asked him. “There isn’t one, this door isn’t solid, it’s a liquid held in a force field. Some sort of signal probably moves the liquid out of the way when someone wants to go through it.” “So ‘ow do we get it to open den?” Castus fumbled through his bag, “I’ve got something here that may help,” he said, “I can send radio waves at the force field and measure its strength as it reacts to different frequencies.” “Ya remember wot I said about not bein’ a mek?” Hazug said. “I’m sending some signals to the door, “ Castus explained as he activated the device he removed from his bag, frustrated at having to dumb down everything he said for Hazug to understand it, “and the nearer I get to the correct signal the weaker the force field will get.” “Ah right den,” Hazug said, still not exactly clear about anything Castus had told him. Instead he watched the human as he adjusted a dial on the device in his hand back and forth as he studied a screen above it. Then he caught sight of the effect it was having on the door. Where it had previously been perfectly flat it was now quivering like the surface of a pool that had just had a rock or a snotling hurled into it for fun. “I think I’ve got it,” Castus shouted. “Over
‘ere lads,” Hazug called out, “Everyone get ready.”
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The Warhammer 40,000 universe is the intellectual property of Games Workshop Ltd. The fiction presented here is a derived work. It is completely unofficial and Games Workshop Ltd has not endorsed any of it. |
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